Happy Monday! When he was still just a state assemblyman and mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani won millions of supporters by drilling down on an agenda of affordability, headlined by three promises: freezing the rent, universal childcare and fast and free buses.

On Friday, we looked at Mayor Mamdani’s early successes in freezing the rent for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments (review it here). But what about his other signature proposals?

Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani have butted heads on a few issues since Jan. 1, especially over their divergent views on raising income taxes, but they’ve forged a productive partnership on universal childcare. Eight days into the Mamdani administration, Hochul and Mamdani announced a plan to implement free childcare for children ages six weeks to two years as early as this fall. Starting with an initial launch of 2,000 seats in select neighborhoods, the administrations plan to expand to every ZIP code in the five boroughs within the next four years.

Hochul pledged an initial $73 million to fund the first round of 2-K seats, with another $425 million infusion planned for next year. In all, Hochul has committed more than $1.2 billion to fund childcare and early education in the city, including expansions into 3-K (3 year olds) and pre-K (4 year olds).

The news has already started to have an effect. Parents that initially felt priced out of having a child or a second child are reconsidering larger families in New York City, according to Gothamist. Mamdani hopes the “investment” in childcare will help more taxpaying families stay in the city instead of relocating to cheaper alternatives.

The vital signs are looking generally positive for fast and free buses as well. Despite pushback from some transit experts and commuters, Mamdani won the support of majority leaders in the State Senate and Assembly, who are now pushing to revive a 2023 pilot program that eliminated fares on one bus line in each borough. Mamdani has also received some support for a proposal to remove the bus fare during the FIFA World Cup this summer, which is expected to bring 1.2 million visitors to the city.

Many transportation leaders — in particular MTA Chair Janno Lieber — remain skeptical that Mamdani will be able to make up for lost revenue, especially when facing a $5 billion budget deficit that already forced the mayor to threaten property tax increases. However, with legislative support, the decision to move forward with a citywide pilot rests with Governor Hochul. Although the governor previously opposed Mamdani’s vision of free buses, she remains open to working with the state legislature to explore a scaled-down, targeted rollout.

“There’s upwards of a billion dollars that would be lost if we did it the way he’s proposing right now,” Hochul said during an appearance on NY1 in January. “But again, anything can be scaled up.”

As we mentioned last week, Mamdani has had to reverse course on some of his campaign promises in the interest of saving money — but it appears the “Big 3” are steadily moving from slogan to reality.

Every seat was filled at the Center for Brooklyn History (CBH) on Pierrepont Street last week to watch the 2025 documentary “Women Laughing.” Directed by cartoonist Liza Donnelly and producer, writer and director Kathleen Hughes, the screening was followed by a discussion with Donnelly and fellow female cartoonists featured in the film, moderated by comedian Ophira Eisenberg.

The documentary opens with Donnelly drawing her infamous sketches that have appeared for over 40 years in The New Yorker. She starts the dialogue by telling the audience about her early goal of wanting to make her mother laugh. Upon being gifted a book of cartoons from her mom, she sets off on the journey to make women around the world laugh.

Learn more about the notable women who make us laugh through art.

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